The field of the invention is sporting goods and the invention relates more particularly to removable stops of the type which can be used to assist in modifying the configuration of the handle of a sporting implement such as a baseball bat or a golf club. The modification cushions the heel of the hand of the user and can be used also for tools, such as axes or brooms or the like.
When one is learning to play baseball, it is often useful for a coach to modify the player's grip to help in teaching the player an improved swinging technique. One such approach is known as choking up on the bat. This technique is especially useful in teaching children to swing a baseball bat which would otherwise be too long for them or to teach them to modify their conventional swing by their choking up or holding the bat further from the knob end of the bat.
Various devices have been created to help alleviate this problem. One such approach is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,114. This device is a series of resilient sleeves which may be placed over the end knob of the bat and its basic purpose is to provide a shock damper to reduce vibrations transmitted through the end knob of the bat to the user's hand. By providing more than one such damper, the damper can be used as a means for providing a reference for a batter to choke up in gripping the ball bat.
Another approach is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,469,839. The choke may be made from rubber and has a slit which allows it to be passed over the bat handle. A metal or plastic spring clip or O-ring is then inserted over one end of the knob and is held by a groove in the knob against the bat handle.
Another device which may be placed over the handle of a bat or other instrument is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,091,458. This device is a hand grip which has one or more finger stalls extending outwardly therefrom. The member is held to the handle by suction cups comprising dimples which are formed on the inner surface of the rubber ring.
While capable of assisting a young player to choke up at an accurate place on a baseball bat handle, these devices all have shortcomings. The device of U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,114 would clearly be very inexact when utilized as shown in FIG. 5 when acting as a reference point. The device would be readily compressed during the swing because of the nature of the construction of the device. The choke device shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,469,839 is limited in its ability to grip different bats and if a bat is wet, or if the weather is cold, the use of a split ring and a clip would be likely to provide insufficient grip to create a meaningful stop for a young player who often does not grip the bat as tightly as an older player would.
Lastly, the hand grip of U.S. Pat. No. 2,091,458 may well be adequate as a finger grip for which it is designed, but an attempt to use such a design would be insufficient to hold the ring where desired when the baseball bat handle was smaller than that for which the ring was designed, or if the handle was wet or the weather cold.